Improvement in tobacco-packages



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES D. CULI), OF GILROY, CALIFORNIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN TOBACCO-PACKAGES.A

Specfication forming part of Letters Patent No. 162,353, dated April 20, 1875; application filed January 10, 1874.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J AMEs D. GULP, of Gilroy, Santa Clara county, Sta-te of California, have invented a new and useful invention in the art of putting up in packages granulated smoking-tobacco, of which the following is a specification Heretofore it has been customary to put up granulated smoking-tobacco in sacks made of linen or cotton cloth, having very little or no elasticity.

The usual method of putting up the tobacco in packages is as follows A metallic hollow cylinder, opeir at both ends, is made of about the diameter which it is desired the package of tobacco should be when finished, but considerably larger. The sack to be lled is drawn over the lower end of the cylinder, the bottom of the sack closing the lower end of the cylinder. A given quantity of tobacco is then weighed and put into the cylinder through its upper end. The cylinder is then placed standing with its lower end upon a solid platform, and a piston is inserted in its upper end, and by means of a powerful press is forced down upon the tobacco in the cylinder, pressing it into nearly a solid mass. The pressure is then removed, and the metallic cylinder is raised and fastened in an elevated position above the plat-form, where the pressure is again applied to the piston, driving its lower end through the cylinder. In passing through the cylinder, the lower end of the piston forces the tobacco through ahead of it, and the tobacco, in passing out of the cylinder, comes in contact with the bottom of the sack that is drawn over thecylinder, and draws the sack off from the cylinder and over the pressed tobacco. By these means the sack is filled with the tobacco. The metallic cylinder must be used, as no sack is strong enough to withstand the necessary pressure.

Heretofore the sacks used in putting up to bacco have been made of nearly non-elastic material, and have, for this reason, been defective and occasioned loss and inconvenience. If made the least trie larger than the cylinder over which they-are to be drawn, they would not stay upon the cylinder well when drawn over it, and7 after being filled, made a package of tobacco loose and larger than the ordinary size; while, if the sack happened to be made the least trifle too small, it could not be drawn over the tube, and therefore became an entire loss, the loss on this account usually averaging about one-eighth of all the sacks made.

My improvement consists in making and using elastic sacks for putting up the tobacco of knit fabric. I cause a long hollow seamless length of fabric or hose to be knit of a uniform size or diameter throughout its entire length. This uniformity of size is very important, and is easily and perfectly accomplished by knitting machinery in common use. rI he diameter of the knit fabric or hose corresponds to the size of the diameter of the tobacco-packages which it is desired to make. The hose or fabric is then. cut up into pieces or lengths, each one of which corresponds to the length which it is desired the packages of tobacco should be made, one end of each of said pieces or lengths is sewed up, and the sacks are ready to use.

Among the advantages possessed by these elastic sacks are the following: Being elastic, when a little too small they can still be drawn over the metallic tubes for filling, and all loss on account of small sizes avoided without running any risk of making them too large. Being knit or woven by machinery in one continuous, seamless, hollow length, the sacks are all without any longitudinal seams and of uniform diameters, and when lled With the same amount of tobacco in each they form packages of uniform sizes as to both length and diameter. On account of the loose texture of the sack, when the tobacco is put up a little too damp, as often happens, it dries out and does not mildew. The labels also stick to them better than to other sacks, and the cost of making them is less than that of other sacks. When the tobacco is packed in sacks it is desirable to close the top ofthe sacks with gathering-strings, so that the sacks can be easily opened and closed at pleasure, either for examination before sale or while the tobacco is being used. In ordinary sacks, the close texture holds the gathering-strings so tightly that the sacks are opened only with great difficulty, and very often the gatheringstrings are broken by the effort required to Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patcnt, is-

As a new article of manufacture, elastic tobacco-sacks made of knit fabrics, substantially as herein set forth and described.

JAMES DARIUS CULP. [1..

Witnesses:

WILLIAM LA HARPE HOOVER, WILSON WOOD HOOVER. 

